SIM Leadership Spotlight: SIM Minnesota, Brian Carlson
1.Please provide an overview of the SIM Minnesota chapter.
Our chapter, founded over 25 years ago, has about 45 members and represents both the Twin Cities and surrounding communities.Our furthest member drives 150 miles roundtrip. Read more…

2.What are your goals for your term as the President of the SIM Minnesota chapter?
As President of SIM Minnesota, I have the following goals:Increase membership and retain existing members, increase the number of members attending our excellent programs... Read more…

3.What are the hottest trends in the industry?
From my viewpoint, the hottest trends in the IT industry are:

4.What challenges is your chapter currently facing?
The number of members over the last several years has been relatively flat.We would like to grow our membership with younger IT professionals.To increase our membership, a group of SIM members is developing a new Senior Information Technology Leadership series. Read more…

5.What is the one piece of advice you will give the next President of the SIM Minnesota chapter?
Create clear goals for the year; this will keep everyone focused on what’s important for the chapter.Also, surround yourself with an experienced board and committee members. Read more…

Exemplify. Empower. Educate
Our very own SIM Women, along with an impressive Advisory Council, has put together a one-day Leadership conference!

But this event is NOT for women only --- it’s for ALL SIM leaders and their teams!

The conference is designed to provide insights for all levels of leadership to today’s challenges and opportunities:

• You’ve reached the top --- now what?What’s your next career move?
•How can you enable change at market pace versus cruise ship speeds?
•You’ve hired the best – now how do you keep them?Our C-Suite leaders discuss career advancement, engagement, and share how to re-recruit your employees.
•Have you considered using a STEM Outreach initiative as an employee retention tactic?No? Learn how from our panel of successful STEM leaders.

We all know him – the guy (or gal) who sits on one side of the conference table and doesn’t say much – at first.

Maybe he’s worked for the company for 1000 years, in every area of the company, and knows where all the bodies are buried.Or maybe he’s that IT guru the company hired a few years back – the guy who has done AMAZING things with the technology.

In any case, there’s always a guy (or gal) – a dream crusher – who throws a bucket of ice water on every new idea by saying things like:

• Can’t be done
• We tried that already, and it didn’t work
• Our systems aren’t sophisticated enough to handle that•We’d need an upgrade, but the upgrade was slashed from the budget

IT Trends Study Deadline is Fast Approaching!
SIM’s IT Trends Study is scheduled to close on May 31st.OVER 4000 SIM MEMBERS HAVE NOT YET STARTED THIS YEAR’S QUESTIONNAIRE.Your chapter needs you to participate!Will you help SIM be the “voice of IT leadership”?Has your voice been heard yet?

Everyone who completes the questionnaire will (1) receive a personalized and confidential report comparing their responses to those of their fellow SIM members, (2) be entered into a drawing for one of 36 $250 gift cards (AmEx), and (3) help their chapter compete for its share of $16,000 in cash prizes (and bragging rights) in the Chapter Challenge Contest.

Free Downloads of APC Reports to SIM Members
If you click on the Online Store button on the SIM home page you will find Advanced Practices Council reports that are available for download at no cost. Available reports are:

•"Anchored Agility: How to Effectively Manage the Balance between Local Flexibility and GlobalEfficiency"•"Creating Capital Our of Chaos: Social Media Strategy"•"Harvesting External Data: The Potential of Digital Data Streams"•"How Do CIOs Measure and Communicate IT Performance?"•"Mobile App Development"

Want the most up-to-date research? Want to be in the room when it is reported to APC members? Click HERE to learn more about joining the APC.

Where Does Your Personal Compass Point?RLF Suggested Reading
True North by Bill George (with Peter Sims) is an excellent book for anyone wanting to understand more about the essence of effective leadership and what makes SIM’s Regional Leadership Forum (RLF) program a unique and exceptional leadership development program – to get “a taste of RLF.”

Few books capture the "essence" of RLF – authentic leadership – as well as True North.Even the title reflects the compass pointing to “true north” in the RLF graduation rock. Most of George’s key ideas are woven into the fabric of the RLF curriculum. Read more...

2015 Leader of the Year Award Nominations
SIM is pleased to request your participation in the 2015 SIM Leader of the Year Award program. This award recognizes members who contributed to the growth, advancement and excellence of SIM at the chapter level. If you know of a chapter member who went above and beyond to further their chapter, we encourage to nominate the individual. If your chapter selects a Chapter Member of the Year, you can nominate the same person for the 2015 SIM Leader of the Year!

The deadline to submit a nomination is August 3, and we hope to have at least one nomination from every SIM Chapter!The Leader of the Year award winner(s) will be honored at SIMposium 2015 and receive a complimentary registration.We thank you in advance for your kind dedication, leadership and teamwork to help ensure that we can recognize your strongest SIM contributor(s) within the last 12 months.

• Click HERE to view the Leader of the Year guidelines.
• Click HERE nominate an outstanding chapter member.

If you would like to learn more about the Leader of the Year award program, please contract Vincenzo Nelli.